“For democracies to function, voters need to be exposed to a variety of views in the media,” says Camille Urvoy from the EpoS Economic Research Center. “Yet, our analysis of the hosts and about 262,000 guests appearing on French television and radio shows suggests that owners want their channels to focus on certain views possibly corresponding to their own preferences. In this context, it is interesting how journalists adapt to a major ownership-driven change in the editorial line. We take the acquisition of three television channels in France by Vincent Bolloré as an example.”
Shift to the radical right under new media boss
According to the research, the takeover led to an increase in the time devoted to politicians from the radical right of 5.5 percentage points. The shift is stronger, amounting to an increase of about 50 percent compared to other channels, when politically vocal guests are included. These could be activists and commentators, for example. Their speaking time is not monitored by media regulators because they are not professional politicians.
How editorial shifts are brought about
According to the research, at the Canal Plus channels, the political shift was brought about by hosts complying with a new editorial strategy: those journalists who stayed on the acquired channels after the takeover started featuring far-right guests more frequently. At the same time, many hosts stopped appearing on the acquired outlets and did not find a similar position on another leading outlet.
Different coverage times for political groups
As to the broader media landscape in France, the authors find that other media channels also largely differ in how much attention they devote to different political groups. “This is despite the existence of broadcast regulations meant to ensure respect for pluralist expression,” says Urvoy.
Policy implications – ensuring pluralism within and across channels
Some important policy implications can be drawn for the regulation of the media. “First, when measuring pluralism of views represented on a channel, it is important to not only focus on politicians, but to include non-politicians as well who may be used to bias content,” says Urvoy. “Second, the takeover by Bolloré shows that rules to protect pluralism and impartiality within channels are needed. This is all the more important as most people get their news from a limited number of sources. So external plurality across different channels is not enough to ensure that citizens are exposed to a plurality of views.”